Method of manufacturing floor clips



Aug. 6, 1940.

s. H. CAMPBELL ET AL METHOD OF MANUFACTURING FLOOR CLIPS Filed Jan. 31,1958 INVENTORS S.H.CAMPBELL .PIETZSCH B I V.

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 6, 1940 m?- 1TE D STATES METHOD orv MANUFACTURINGFLOOR.

7 cups Sterling H. Campbell and Frank H. Pietzsch, St.

- f I Louis,fMo., assignors. to" Western Railway Equipment. Company,St.:*L0.uis,lMo;-, acorporation ,of Missou ApplicatiomJanuaryfi, 1938Serial No; 187.778 4 Claims. (01. see-.150)

Our invention relates to a method of manufacturing floor clips of thetype used to secure the floor boards of railway cars to the sills bymeans of which such clips may be accurately and economically made,particularly from stock the width of which varies appreciably. Stock ofthis kind is less expensive than that which is gauged accurately to sizeand its utilization in the manufacture of clips, therefore, results in asubstantial saving in cost.

A floor clip of the type above referred to is provided with one or moreprongs adapted to enter the floor board to prevent the rotation of "theclip around the bolt securing it to the board and its consequentdisengagement from the sill.',' The cross section of these prongs shouldbe small enough not to' offer undue resistance to the entry of the prongor prongs into the board under the pressure applied to the under face ofthe clip by tightening the nut on the bolt. One of the difficultiesheretofore encountered in making floor clips has been that of blanking along relatively thin prong out of the heavy metal bar forming the bodyof the clip at a single opera-'- .tion. This is due. to the fact thatone of'the blades of the blanking die must necessarily be 'of the samecontour as the prong and so is liable to crumble under the excessivestrain to which it .is subjected." This difficulty has recently beenaccentuated by the practice by car builders of inserting a strip of feltpaper between the floor boards and the sills, thus necessitating the useof longer prongs than were heretofore required.

' Another difliculty encountered in'case the clips are each providedwith two prongs, the outer sides .ofwhich are coincident with the sidesof the clip,;resu1ts'from the variation in the width of the stock abovereferred to which renders proper centering of the bar difiicult, if notimpossible, so that in the completed article the prongs are of differentlengths.

In carrying out our invention we subject the stock to a preliminarysizing operation so it may be accurately centered to secure uniformsized prongs, such sizing operation also blanking the outer sides of theprongs. We complete. the prongs by a second blanking operation whichalso forms the opposite end of the clip. Both these operations, as wellas other necessary operations, are performed by a compound sizing,blanking, punching and bending die, so that after the preliminaryoperations, necessary only at the end of the bar, each stroke of suchcompound die results in the formation of a complete clip.

I In the accompanying drawing in which the die 1 structure issemi-diagrammatically illustrated, Figure l is a plan View illustratingthe first preliminary operation; Figure 2 is a plan view illustratingthe second preliminary operation;' Figure 3 is a plan view illustratinga normal. operation 'of the die; Figure 4 is a vertical section throughthe parts shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a vertical section showing the clip in ,0

position in a c'arstructure; Figure 6 is a'plan ,View of. the clip; andFigure 7 is a perspective view of the clip.

,Re'ferring first to. Figures 5, 6 and '7, the numeral 8 represents oneof the floor boards of a railway car supported above a sill 9, betweenwhich parts is placed 'a' sheet ll] of felt paper.

Passing down through the board adjacent the edge of the sill is a bolt II which projects through The clip is provided with an offset I6terminating in alip l! which projects under the flange of the sill.

The movable parts of the die are carried on a reciprocating plunger [8(Figure 4). These dies include a pair of trimming or sizing dies 19, apunch 20,'a blanking die 2|, a body bending die '22 and a pair of prongbending dies 23. Adjacent the dies 23 is an adjustable stop which.consists of a bar 24 threaded in an upright 25. The bar is provided witha handle 26 and with a lock nut 21 by ,means of which it may be securedin proper adjustment. The trimming dies I9, punch 2,0 and blanking die2lcooperate with a lower fixed die 28 and the bending die 22 with a lowerbending die 29. The upper bending die 22 may be in fixed relation to theplunger I8 and the lower bending die 29 in fixed relation to die 28 incase all theclips to be formed have the same depth of offset Hi. Inorder, however, that the same dies may be used to form clips havingdifferent depths of offset, we prefer to provide for adjustment in theheight of dies 22 and 29 relative to the other dies by the use of shims3B and 3| placed between die 22 and plunger l8 and between die 29 andlower die supporting member 32, respectively.

In carrying out our invention, the bar of stock A from which the clipsare to beformed is inserted between the trimming dies l9 and die 28 sofar thatthe end of the stock extends to about the middle point of thetrimming dies (as shown in Figure 1) and the plunger is actuated toperform the first preliminary operation which consists in trimming orsizing the front end of the bar of stock. It will be understood that thedistance between the two trimming dies I9 is slightly less than theminimum width of the stock. After this operation, the stock is advancedto the position shown in Figure 2, the bar being accurately positionedlaterally by engagement of the sized forward end of the bar with a pairof stops 33, the distance between these stops being exactly the same asthat between the trimming dies IS. The plunger is again actuated toperform the second preliminary operation which consists in punching thehole i2 in the stock by means of the punch 20 and removing a portion Aof the front end of the bar by means of the forming die 2|. This latteroperation completes the shaping or contouring of the prongs IS. AS theouter sides of these prongs have been formed by the previous action ofthe dies I9, die 28 may be extended laterally as far as necessary toprovide the required strength to resist the strain due to the shearingaction. By forming the prongs by two independent operations, we areenabled to produce prongs of greater length than the thickness of thestock from which they are formed. The stops 33 are secured to thelaterally extending portion of die 28 by any suitable means such as pins34. These stops not only center the stock but prevent the spreading ofthe prongs under the action of die 2|. The portions of the stops 33which engage with the edges of the stock are of a height substantiallyequal to the thickness of the stock and above these portions the stopsare provided with ways 35 of sufficient width to permit the passage ofthe untrimmed portions of stock of maximum width.

After the preliminary operations above described, the stock is advancedat each stroke of the plunger until its end contacts the stop 24 asshown in Figure 3. This results in the formation of a complete clip foreach stroke until the entire bar is used up. The severing of the clipfrom the bar by die 2| is not completed until the ofiset I6 issufficiently formed to prevent longitudinal movement of the cliprelative to the dies. The prong bending dies 23 have rounded corners 36to prevent injury to the prongs and the distance between the faces ofthese dies and the end of die 29 is somewhat less than the thickness ofthe stock so that the action of these dies not only bends the prongs atright angles to the body l3 of the clip but also exerts a squeezing orupsetting action upon them. This action not only appreciably increasesthe length of the pron-gs but improves their contour.

It will be seen that by our method we are enabled to form a completeclip at each stroke of the die, after the preliminary operationsperformed only at the end of the stock. Further, we are enabled toproduce a clip in which the prongs are of greater length than thethickness of the stock from which the clip is formed and in which thegreatest cross-sectional dimensions of said prongs, both in thelongitudinal direction B-B (Figure 6) and in the transverse directionCC, are less than said thickness. Further, by use of the shims 30, 3iand the adjustable stop 24, we are enabled to utilize the same dies toform a wide range of clips having different depths of offset butotherwise alike.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The method of forming floor clips which includes shearing the sidesof a strip of metal of uniform thickness to reduce its width to apredetermined dimension and to partially form a pair of prongs, andremoving a portion of the stock between the prongs to complete theircontour and to sever the strip transversely.

2. The method of forming fioor clips which includes shearing the sidesof a strip of metal of uniform thickness to reduce its width to apredetermined dimension and to partially form a pair of prongs, andremoving a portion of stock between the prongs to form an end portion ofa second clip, said removal completing the contour of the prongs andsevering the strip transversely.

3. The method of forming floor clips which includ s shearing the sidesof a strip of metal of uniform thickness to reduce its Width to apredetermined dimension and to partially form a pair of prongs, removinga portion of stock between the prongs to form an end portion of a secondclip, said removal completing the contour of the prongs and severing thestrip transversely, and bending said prongs at right angles to the clipand simultaneously compressing them to reduce their thickness in thedirection of the length of the clip.

4. The method of forming floor clips which includes shearing the sidesof a strip of metal of uniform thickness to reduce its width to apredetermined dimension and to partially form a pair of prongs, andremoving a portion of stock between the prongs to form an end portion ofa second clip, said removal completing the contour of the prongs andsevering the strip transversely and simultaneously with said removalofisetting a portion of the clip and bending the prongs at right anglesto the body of the clip.

STERLING H. CAMPBELL. FRANK H. PIETZSCH.

